Patel to get 2nd term in Gujarat
AHMEDABAD/SHIMLA, Dec 9: A meeting of the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs in Gujarat will be held tomorrow in Gandhinagar to pick a new leader, who will take over as the next Chief Minister, said the ruling party today as incumbent Bhupendra Patel appears set to return for a second straight term in office.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Patel tendered his resignation along with his entire Cabinet to pave the way for formation of a new Government in the State after the ruling BJP won a landslide victory in the just concluded Assembly elections.
Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, B S Yediyurappa and Arjun Munda will be observers for the legislative party meeting in the State capital. The party has already announced that the swearing-in ceremony of the new Government will take place on December 12, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will be present along with chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. The BJP registered a historic victory in Gujarat by clinching 156 seats in the 182-member House on Thursday, much higher than its tally of 99 seats in 2017.
Patel, accompanied by Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil and party’s chief whip Pankaj Desai, handed over his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. This was just a formality as the party has already announced that Patel (60), who won a second straight term from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat in Ahmedabad district by 1.92 lakh votes, will remain Chief Minister. In September last year, Patel had replaced Vijay Rupani as Gujarat Chief Minister. On Thursday, the State BJP president had reiterated that Patel would continue to occupy the top post and his swearing-in ceremony would be held on December 12.
“The Governor has accepted the resignation of the Chief Minister and his cabinet. Till the formation of a new Government, Patel will remain the caretaker Chief Minister,” Desai told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan. In a letter, Paatil informed the Governor that the BJP has called a legislative party meeting of its newly-elected MLAs to choose a new leader. “The meeting of MLAs will be held at 10 am tomorrow at the party headquarters ‘Kamalam’ in Gandhinagar.
The Governor will be informed about the election of a new leader in the afternoon, for which we have sought time from him. The swearing-in of the new chief minister and his cabinet will take place as per the Governor’s instructions,” Desai said. Paatil had earlier announced the swearing-in ceremony of the new Government will take place on Monday at the Helipad Ground in Gandhinagar. Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Yediyurappa and Munda were appointed as central observers for the meeting of the party’s new MLAs scheduled in Gandhinagar.
Meanwhile, newly elected Congress MLAs met in Shimla on Friday and unanimously passed a resolution authorising the party president to pick their leader who will be the next Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister.
Ahead of the Congress Legislature Party meeting, Chief Minister hopefuls Pratibha Singh, Mukesh Agnihotri and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu reached the party office in State capital Shimla along with their supporters, who raised slogans in their favour.
The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 Assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday.
Addressing the media after the legislature party meeting, AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla said the one-line resolution was passed unanimously and the party’s observers would submit their report to its high command on Saturday.
Refuting that there is factionalism within the Congress party as several leaders were lobbying for the Chief Minister’s post, Shukla said no name came forward for the post of the legislature party leader and the MLAs unanimously decided that the party leadership would take the call.
Earlier, as the party’s central observers — Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda — worked to find a consensus candidate, a group of supporters of Pratibha Singh, the State party chief and wife of former CM Virbhadra Singh, blocked their vehicle and raised slogans in her support.
It happened as the central observers, along with Shukla, were going to meet Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. The central leaders submitted a list of the party’s winning MLAs to the Governor and “sought time” to formally stake claim to form the Government.
The Congress Legislature Party meeting was scheduled to begin at 3 pm but was delayed as several MLAs could not reach Shimla from far-away places earlier.
Speaking to mediapersons ahead of the CLP meeting, Congress leader Sukhu said, “I am not a Chief Minister aspirant. I am just a Congress worker and whatever decision the high command would take would be accepted.”
Earlier in the day, Pratibha Singh, 66, has indicated that she is in the running for the chief minister’s post, a point also made by her son.
“I am not in the race for the top post but my mother is one of the contenders for the post of chief minister,” her son and Congress MLA from Shimla Rural Vikramaditya Singh said.
“A meeting of all winning MLAs has been convened and the final decision would be taken by the high command which would be acceptable to all,” he added.
Vikramaditya Singh told reporters here that “collective will of MLAs will be kept in mind and then observers will convey the same to the high command”.
Replying to a question, Singh said, “Whatever the high command decides will be acceptable to all of us.”
“Post is not important for us. What is important is the promises we made to people. We have to fulfil them and we are committed to that,” he said.
He said the government will be formed in two-three days.
Former State chief of the party Sukhu and outgoing legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri are also believed to among the frontrunners for the Chief Minister’s post.
Senior Haryana Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal, who was part of the Congress delegation which met the Governor said that they gave the list and told him, “We have come to seek your time to present our credentials to form Government in the state. The party has won the assembly polls with a majority.”
The Congress observers and Shukla also met Pratibha Singh at a hotel.
Shukla had on Thursday said the Congress was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the government in the state and asserted that the party will do everything to fulfil the 10 guarantees made to the people of the state and would provide better governance to people.
“The newly elected Congress MLAs would meet in Shimla on Friday post-election results and decide on electing the new legislature party leader,” Shukla had told PTI on Thursday.
Sources said the MLAs are likely to pass a one-line resolution authorising Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to decide the CLP leader. This has been the tradition in the Congress party, they said. (PTI)
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